The Mistake: From Five Different Perspectives
by PernDragonrider
Summary: This is my Five Things tale for the challenge issued by Panache.  Five Rangers look back on their lives and their choices.
1. The Mistake  Billy's Point of View

**The Mistake: From Five Different Perspectives**

By: PernDragonrider

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Power Rangers that honor goes to BVE (Buena Vista Entertainment), Toei, Saban Enterprises, Disney, and Ranger Productions. No money being made on this work of fiction based on the television series Power Rangers._

**Author's Note:**_The idea for this tale came about when Panache issued a FIVE THINGS challenge. This is my offering for that challenge. I do hope that it meets the challenge. As always, please read and review. Pern._

**The Mistake – Billy Cranston's Point of View**

I sit here, on an alien world, reflecting on my life. I was never one to make friends easily, but surprisingly I have ten other people that I am closer to than my own blood relatives. Jason, Trini, Zack, Kimberly, Tommy, Adam, Aisha, Rocky, Tanya, and Katherine have been a great influence on the way my life has gone. Books were my friends, my only friends after my mother died, until an accidental meeting with Trini in first grade. Quite to my astonishment, Trini understood me perfectly and became the instrument by which Kimberly, Zack, and Jason accepted me into their close-knit group.

Better friends I could not have every hoped for. Jason, the protector, leader, and big brother to us all. Kimberly, the cheerful, playful, little sister, and heart of our group. Zack, the happy go-lucky clown that always could make us smile and was always ready to try anything we wanted to do. Finally, Trini, the peaceful negotiator and the light of my life. They were my friends, my confidants, and my world. Until the day what seemed to be an earthquake rocked the Youth Center. We found ourselves teleported into this place with a float head and a semi-autonomous android; Zordon of Eltar and his robotic assistant Alpha 5.

We became more than teenagers that day, we were given the power to protect our world in ways most would never believe possible; we became Power Rangers. The five of us didn't want to accept Zordon's offer, at first; however, I suspect that had Zack not called Jason out; he would have stayed. Instead, big brother that he was, he came with us. If we didn't agree then he wouldn't, no matter where his heart truly lay. In the end, we did accept the powers and under went the metamorphosis from normal teenager to Power Ranger. We had the powers, represented by extinct dinosaurs and mammals. Jason, red, the tyrannosaurus; Kimberly, pink, the Pterodactyl; Trini, yellow, the Saber Tooth Tiger; Zack, black, the Mastodon; and me, blue, the Triceratops. Together we became a fighting force for good. We beat Rita Repulsa's monsters time and again. Then she sent down our worst nightmare. The Green Ranger and he wasn't on our side at all, at first. An attack on our Command Center, our headquarters, caused us to lose contact with Zordon. We were all scared kids, but persevered as best we could. Jason was taken away, to further demoralize our team, but we got him back. Eventually we discovered the identity of the person inside of the Green Ranger's armor, Tommy Oliver. A new kid in town that was as capable of a combatant as Jason was. We succeeded in freeing him from Rita's control and welcomed him to our team. Now we were six, six teenagers protecting our city, our world, from the machinations of evil.

As with life, all things must change, and our team changed. Jason, Trini, and Zack were accepted to a prestigious Teen Peace Summit in Switzerland. With their leaving, my life was changed irrevocably. My big brother, my fool, and my confidant were thousands of miles away now. Adam, Aisha, and Rocky, three friends like the five of us were, from childhood, came to replace the three we were losing. Eventually we ALL became friends, but it was a very uneasy time at first for me and I think for Kimberly and Tommy too. Tommy's loss and regaining of the Green Ranger's powers and his eventual complete loss of those powers is what I believe to have been the turning point for Jason in remaining a member of our team. Tommy, before Jason left, became team leader and with a new power, one that couldn't be taken from him by evil, he became the White Ranger. Under his leadership, and with the new members, we forged together and our friendship was forged not of long-time acquaintance, but in nearly daily battle. Still, that friendship remains until this day, I think; no I know it remains. There were many battles and many times we thought we'd not win; but we did. Master Vile was the worst evil we fought. He took the Zeo Crystal and used it against Ninjor and us too. During the time of Tommy's leadership, we had to upgrade our powers to that of the Ninja. No more where the Tyrannosaurus, Mastodon, Pterodactyl, Triceratops, and Saber Tooth Tiger, now there was the Falcon, white, the Crane, pink, the Ape, red, the Frog, green, the Bear, yellow, and the Wolf, me and blue in color; Tommy, Kimberly, Rocky, Adam, Aisha, and me, respectfully.

Rita returned and aligned with Zedd to try and take the people of Earth slaves to their evil. We fought off their combined powers with our Ninja powers that Ninjor bestowed upon us. It was apparent, to me, that Kimberly was restless. When a famous gymnastics coach came to Angel Grove looking for new talent, Kimberly did her routines for him. Eventually, Kimberly went to train with this coach, nearly decimating my world, and Kat came to the team. Katherine Hillard, a one time victim of Rita's evil, like Tommy, now fought against that evil with as much zeal and fire as Tommy did. Thinking back to this time, it was I left without my family and it was no wonder that while I still fought with my new friends; inside I was miserable and missing Jason, Trini, Zack, and Kimberly very much. I hid it from the others, burying it inside of me as I always did before Trini and the others. Tommy was flirting around Kat, but everyone knew Kimberly was still his heart and soul. Kat knew this too and they formed a friendship based on a mutual past of being used by evil.

Master Vile, Rita's father, came to Earth. He used a device and turned back the clock for everyone in Angel Grove only. We were physically ten years old, but with our memories of being teenagers and Power Rangers; unfortunately, our ten year old bodies couldn't handle the powers. Zordon called in the Rangers of Aquitar. Aliens came to our assistance and with our help, even though we were ten, succeeded in keeping Master Vile, Rita, and Zedd's evil attacks at bay and the Earth safe. Near the end of this time I invented a device to return all of us to our rightful ages so we could assist the Aquitain Rangers. I used the untested device on myself first. It was powered by our power coins. I succeeded in returning to my rightful age; however, Rito and Goldar destroyed the device and our power coins at the same time. I was distraught, terrified of what the others would think of me, and relieved at the same time.

I know that is a complete contradiction, you think; but I was upset. I knew the others would find a way to get the powers again, Zordon would see to that. But for me, the relief was there because I had decided that my time as a fighter was over. I knew, within my heart and soul, that there would be NO power for me when Zordon gave out the new powers. I wasn't upset over that, because it was MY time to leave. I was the last of the original team left. I know, you say that Tommy was one of us, but although he was my good friend he wasn't Jason, Trini, Zack, or Kimberly. The relief of that decision stayed with me throughout helping the Aquitain Rangers as well as my ten-year-old teammates. When they went on their separate quests for the parts of the Zeo Crystal, I was the one to help send them back in time to find the scattered pieces of the Zeo Crystal and I was there to greet them when they returned, successfully.

We had a time of great upheaval for me and for our entire team. Goldar and Rito managed to sneak into the lower levels of the Command Center and plant an implosion device. When it activated, it decimated the entire Command Center interior and exterior. Somehow in the wreckage, I saw the Zeo Crystal shine and pointed it out to Tommy. When he picked it up and exposed it to the light – the ground beneath our feet fell away. We fell, but not to our deaths, since I am writing this tale, but into an unknown depth of the Command Center. We heard Alpha's voice and followed it to a swirling green vortex. Crossing the vortex we found ourselves inside a previously unknown back up Command Center. We stood amazed as the power of the fully assembled Zeo Crystal rebuilt the place around us. After the rebuilding, there were changes, and the Command Center was now known as the Power Chamber. The other change was that Tanya Sloan came back in Aisha Campbell's place. The second set of life-long friends had been torn apart by our secret lives as Power Rangers.

When the time came I, gratefully, gave up my place to Tanya. I watched with varied emotions happiness, sadness, envy, and relief were just some of the emotions playing through me that day, as Zordon passed out the Zeo powers to Tommy, Kat, Rocky, Adam, and Tanya. My plan was to concentrate on my last year of high school and then look forward to college.

As they say about plans – well my plans didn't go as I'd envisioned. I became a the technical, behind the scenes, person that made the success of the Zeo Rangers against our new foe, King Mondo and his Evil Machine Empire, successful. Not only that, but within weeks of starting, what was to be my senior year of high school, I was called into the principal's office. I was handed a diploma, congratulated for graduating a year early and then basically kicked out of school. No ceremony, no acknowledgements of my scholastic achievements; nothing but a handshake, an apology for my not being able to participate in the ceremony at the end of the last year, and a request to clean out my locker and return any books I might have that still belonged to the school. At the same time, Aurico came to Earth for help against the Hydrocontaminators that were killing his world. I traveled back to Aquitar with him accompanied by one of my inventions that we successfully used to stop those monsters attacking Aquitar. My trip back from Aquitar, a surprise for my friends, didn't quite go as planned and King Mondo attacked and attempted to take me a prisoner. He succeeded and sent a robotic version of myself down to Earth to hurt my friends. Thankfully, the impersonator was discovered, I was rescued, and back to working with Zordon and Alpha building the next set of Zords that would be needed in the future; the Turbo Zords.

Unknown to Zordon, my teammates, or me something was happening to me, something dire. It started just after I attempted, at the urging of my teammates, to accept the Gold Powers from Trey of Triforia. I was happy for Tommy and for Jason when Tommy bought him back to the Power Chamber and could accept the powers. My happiness was short-lived. I started aging, slowly at first to where I didn't even notice it, until it started accelerating to the point I was dying of old age, at the chronological age of seventeen.

My final days on Earth were filled with the pains of old age, but I still did what was necessary to help my friends. Aurico and Delphine came to Earth, again, and this time I returned to Aquitar with them, not to help this time, but to be helped by the pure, healing waters of the Eternal Falls of their world. During my time on Aquitar, while healing, I decided that returning to Earth while ANY of my teammates; friends were holding the power would not be a good idea. I requested that Cestria, Cestro's mate, stand with me to send a message to Earth. She and Cestro both agreed when I laid out my reasons to them. They weren't happy with my deception, but understood my need to remain away from Earth for a while.

I stood with Cestria and we sent the message to the Power Chamber that I would be remaining on Aquitar, presumably to my friends, as Cestria's mate. Now I am planning a return to Earth. Aquitar cannot support the life of an Earth human for an extended period. It was for my health that I traveled here five Earth years ago. It is for my continued existence that I know return to world I was born on. I can only hope that after I do tell my friends, my family, my reasons for remaining away as long as I have; that they forgive me and accept me back into the fold.

Billy looked up from the paper he was writing. His hand shook slightly, but he smiles as Cestro and Cestria's son came running into the room ahead of his parents. "It's time, William." Cestro told him with a very slight bow. "We will miss you, my friend, but it is your time to leave our world."

"I know, Cestro." Billy replied with a happy smile. "I will never be able to thank you and Cestria enough for letting me remain after I came for treatments. I couldn't go back, not as long as any of my friends held the power. It was my time to leave the team, but they wouldn't have let me leave. The needed to know they could stand on their own; without me around."

"Your friends always knew they could, Billy." Cestria told him with a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Come, Andros has docked to return you to Earth. He has business there so you must hurry. You do have everything packed, do you not?"

"Yes, Cestria, I am fully packed and ready to go home." Billy said as he stood up, took the printout from the computer, picked up his luggage, and walked to the docking port. He looked back, smiled, and waved as the elevator doors closed and started rising to surface.

XXXXX The End XXXXX

**A/N 2:**_ I hope everyone likes this tale. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. Thank you to everyone for reading._

_May the Power Protect You!_

_Pern_


	2. The Mistake Trini's Point of View

**The Mistake: From Five Different Perspectives**

By: PernDragonrider

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Power Rangers that honor goes to BVE (Buena Vista Entertainment), Toei, Saban Enterprises, Disney, and Ranger Productions. No money being made on this work of fiction based on the television series Power Rangers._

**Author's Note:**_The idea for this tale came about when Panache issued a FIVE THINGS challenge. I put this in my after note too, but I DO realize this is choppy, but it's supposed to be choppy. It's written from Trini's Point of View as a __**rough draft**__ for a writing assignment while at the Peace Initiative. The time for this is approximately a year AFTER the episode – The Power Transfer, Part 2. This is my offering for that challenge. I do hope that it meets the challenge. As always, please read and review. Pern._

**The Mistake – Trini Kwan's Point of View**

I can't believe I'm sitting at the computer writing this. Jason is leaving us, when I'm not sure, but I've seen the signs of his restlessness, which I really expected to happen sooner than it actually has. We came here, expecting to make a difference and we have, to a point. But Jason has always been a very 'action' orientated person. For him to have lasted nearly a year and a half amazes me. But, enough about Jason, this isn't about Jason; this is about me, Trini.

I love Switzerland. I was so excited to get chosen for this honor. Yes I have given up a lot to be here working for world wide peace; more than anyone here, besides Zack and Jason, will ever know. I was one of the first Power Rangers of Earth. Along side Kimberly, Jason, Billy, and Zack. We, five friends, were chose to protect our world from the Evil Space Witch, Rita Repulsa, by Zordon of Eltar, a being trapped in an inter-dimensional time warp. We kept our world safe, but I am not one that likes to solve problems by fighting. I prefer to find a more peaceful solution to problems.

Don't get me wrong, I can and will fight. But for me fighting first isn't my cup of tea. I do and don't feel I've left my friends that remained back in Angel Grove behind. I feel I've left them behind because Billy uses his large vocabulary to hide his shyness. I feel I've left them behind because Kimberly now doesn't have anyone to girl talk with and shop til we drop together. I feel I've left them behind because I worry about them having three new people whose fighting styles are unknown and have to be worked into the existing unorthodox styles of Kimberly and Billy. I do NOT feel I've left my friends behind because we write each other regularly. We call, as we can, but the prices for intercontinental telephone calls and our allowances most definitely preclude us calling except for special occasions, birthdays, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter – mostly.

I'm writing this journal entry to try and figure out what to do for one of our assignments for our classes here. We've been assigned the chore of writing a paper to tell our fellow Initiative delegates more about ourselves and what we've given up to come and be here. I think this assignment, for me, gives me a much needed chance to reflect on what I left to come here, but also what I've gained by accepting. Needless to say, this is just a rough draft, because our identities have to remain a secret. Even though we are no longer active Rangers, we still have the power, a limited amount because our coins were cloned by the Sword of Power, and none of us would ever do anything to put the lives of our replacements in more danger than they face daily. The rules, we learned that first day, still hold true for us even now. Keep our identities as a Ranger secret, never escalate a battle unless forced to, and never use your powers for personal gain. We have no reason to morph, here where monster attacks are laughed and scoffed at as the ravings of irrational, sick minds.

That has to hurt the most; I think. Hearing our fellow delegates laugh at the news reports of the attacks back home. I know better, we three know better, but we cannot correct them for that would give away our secret. Jason is hit the hardest by the chuckling and snickering. Zack and I can, mostly, let it be, but Jason, Jason has the hardest time because three of his good friends are still fighting for their lives, and ours, nearly every day. It does rankle to know that our friends are fighting for not only our city, but also our entire world, and outside of Angel Grove and the surrounding cities; the attacks are considered to be media stunts and mass hysteria induced hallucinations. Most of all, what I've gained by leaving my former life and coming to Switzerland for this Peace Initiative, has been a better knowledge of my feelings and me about everything around me. Now I've just got to get Zack to understand that while I am his friend, my feelings go deeper than that for him, which is going to take some doing, but I am nothing if not persistent.

There is ONE thing I regret about accepting my position here as a delegate. The one mistake I made and regret more than anything in this world. I shouldn't have applied; I should have stayed with my friends. The worry when a letter isn't answered as soon as I think it should be rips me apart until the letter does arrive. Then I can sigh and read between the lines at what isn't written to get the entire story. We have a whole series of codes, innocuous sentences, that to anyone else is just chatter between friends, but to us – here – it speaks volumes of what our friends have been enduring. I abhor fighting, but I shouldn't have left. I should have stayed where I was. At least then I wouldn't hold my breath when a letter arrives until I can make sure that everyone is healthy and whole. That's my one regret. I left them to fight a battle that I myself didn't want to continue. I'm sure Zordon knows, or suspects, how our feelings have change since arriving here; but we are here, and not there, and I will make the best of what I am doing here – so that hopefully – NO ONE will ever have to fight again.

"Hey, Tri," Zack called as he came into the small computer room at the hotel where they all had their rooms. "Getting a start on that writing assignment for Mr. Wu? I don't know what I'm going to write about, but I'm sure something will come to me." Zack dance-walked into the room and claimed the computer next to where Trini was sitting.

"Hi, Zack," I respond with a bright smile breaking across my face. "Yeah I'm getting a head start, but I wrote a rough draft first. Have some things we can't tell the world, remember?"

"Yep," Zack said as he turned on the computer. "Hey, want to go out to dinner tonight? Jason is going to be down in the gym working out – again. I swear he's going to go back looking like Ahh-nold if he doesn't quit with the weight lifting and the fighting styles he's learning. He's growing out of his clothes faster than he can afford to buy them."

Zack wouldn't know, at least not now, what his invitation to dinner did to my heart, but I heard myself answering, "Sure. That sounds good. I'll talk to Jason in the morning about his training and weight lifting, Zack. But I think that he's unhappy here and misses home." I lower my voice to a soft whisper and lean closer to Zack as I finish. "He misses the team."

"Yeah," Zack said with a nod. "Okay, my treat for dinner, and I should be ready to go out for our dinner around nine. See you then, Tri."

I nodded, printed out my rough draft, and made sure to erase any sign of it ever being there – sometimes have a computer genius, as a best friend is great. I waved bye to Zack, practically flew back to my room to see if I had something nice to wear and if not – well I can always go, and borrow something from one of the other ladies on my floor. I have a DATE with ZACK! YES!

**A/N 2:**_ This is my second offering for this tale and while it's not as long as the one before. I'm hoping I captured the essence of Trini Kwan in it. Please – leave a review and let me know how I did. I do realize this is choppy, but it's supposed to be that way. This is meant to a rough draft for a class writing assignment. Please bear that in mind._

_May the Power Protect You!_

_Pern_


	3. The Mistake Zack's  Point of View

**The Mistake: From Five Different Perspectives**

By: PernDragonrider

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Power Rangers that honor goes to BVE (Buena Vista Entertainment), Toei, Saban Enterprises, Disney, and Ranger Productions. No money being made on this work of fiction based on the television series Power Rangers._

**Author's Note:**_The idea for this tale came about when Panache issued a FIVE THINGS challenge. I DO realize this is choppy, but it's supposed to be choppy. It's written from Zack's Point of View as a __**rough draft**__ for a writing assignment while at the Peace Initiative, a rough draft that he's reading years later. The timeline for this part is six years AFTER the episode – The Power Transfer, Part 2, and Zack finds his rough draft as he is cleaning out the attic of his and Trini's home. This is my offering for that challenge. I do hope that it meets the challenge. Many, many thanks to CamFan4Ever for the beta work on this chapter. As always, please read and review. Pern_

**The Mistake – Zachary "Zack" Taylor's Point of View**

"Note to self," Zack thought as he climbed the ladder to access the attic in the small home he and Trini shared, "do not get on your wife's bad side when she's pregnant, Zack-man. Bad move and now you're stuck cleaning out the attic while Trini is out for the day with Kim and Kat. Checking account will be empty by nightfall."

Zack climbed up into the cramped space and looked around at all the boxes of junk he and Trini had stored up here. Right up front was their Christmas decorations, neatly packed and stored. However, behind all the neatly piled up boxes of decorations was a mish-mash of storage boxes, cardboard boxed, file cabinets, photo albums, and just plain junk. Zack sighed and started his clean-up chore by bringing down the Christmas decorations and neatly stacking them into the spare bedroom that would soon become the nursery.

Zack took anything that was Trini's, carried it down the ladder access hatch, and put the boxes into the living room in a very neat stack. He made sure to get everything that was hers out first and with the decorations removed, that left him room to go thru his things in the attic. "If I go through my stuff up here, then I won't have to haul it all down, go through it, and then haul it back up." He thought with a self-satisfied smile on his face, as he got comfortable on a small stool with trash bags ready on one side. On the other side was a stack of large, heavy-duty plastic storage bins with attached lids, a permanent marker for noting the contents, and in front of him was all of the things from the attic that were clearly marked as his stuff, and a few boxes that weren't marked for Trini, him, or them.

Zack continued going thru his boxes in the attic and didn't even notice when lunch time came and went. He was so engrossed in wondering, "Why the hell did I ever keep this", that he didn't notice the passage of time. He'd made good progress and after all his hard work he was down to three boxes of stuff that wasn't packed into two of the large bins and the unmarked boxes. He had four garbage bags, carefully dropped at the foot of the access ladder, and was thinking about taking a quick break for a bite to eat when he opened the next box and right on top was a stack of papers. The top paper, in faded bold ink, read as follows:

"**Zack Taylor - Hands off, PRIVATE!**"

Zack settled down to read, food forgotten, and this is what the second page of that stack of papers read:

_Well this assignment sucks, royally! I'm supposed to write this paper, telling all the other delegates here what I gave up to come to this conference and jaw all day about world peace._

_What I gave up, I can't tell anyone about, so how the heck am I supposed to write anything that will make sense to someone that isn't a Power Ranger? I can't tell them that and I can't think of anything I regret more._

_Yeah I was tired of the constant monster attacks, constant fear for my life and lives of my best friends, but we were good together – all of us. I still, to this day, do not know what made me apply to be a delegate to this conference. Maybe it was one of Zedd's evil spells that Alpha and Zordon missed – who the heck knows, not me – that's for sure._

_Anyway, what I gave up to come halfway around the world to sit with a bunch of teens from all over the globe and talk, incessantly, about world peace was an honor very, very, very few people of Earth will ever have._

_I gave up the position of the Black Mighty Morphin Power Ranger to Adam Park and right about now – I'm really regretting making the biggest mistake of my life. I mean yeah not knowing if you'd be alive after Rita or Zedd's latest monster got through with us was bad, but the good side was knowing that Jason, Billy, Kimberly, and Trini would always be right there for me – just like I was right there for them._

_Getting placed under evil spells, fighting to keep out town, world, safe, trying to keep my grades up, and having to lie to everyone that didn't know I was a Ranger, was tough, very tough; but we all managed, somehow._

_Fighting off Tommy was even worse and I thought Jason had to be crazy when he asked someone that just minutes before had been trying to kill us – to join us, but Jase was right, as always, we needed him and he needed us. Go figure._

_What I left behind? I left four good friends, teammates, fighting with three people we'd only just met. Three people we know nothing about except that Zedd tried turning them evil and we saved them. Billy nearly died trying to keep our secret, but he HAD to take his helmet off and Adam, Rocky, and Aisha were brought in and sworn to secrecy. I left behind two of my best friends in the world, two people that were by my side since childhood, to come here. I left them, alone, to keep me safe._

_I left behind a great honor. I left behind a huge mistake. I left behind the best friends, best mentor, best teammates; I ran away. I ran from Zedd's evil because it was getting to be too much to hide my fears from everyone and be the 'clown' all the time. Being a Ranger was great, but it started getting to me. Especially the people we couldn't get there in time to help._

_The others don't know that I went to the hospital to see those we couldn't get to safety. I went because I felt responsible for what happened to them – even if I didn't cause the monster to step on their house, their workplace, their car, or however they'd gotten hurt during our battles. I think that's why I left. The guilt of not being able to save everyone was starting to get to me. I don't know. It's nearly a year since I've left and like Trini and Jason both, we all three crave news from home and dread getting it at the same time._

_I left behind a big responsibility that was making me into someone I didn't like. That's why I left. I left, like a coward, the first chance I got. I sure hope that Tommy, Kim, and Billy will forgive me one day. I know Zordon has, he told me so, in a letter after we got here. Trini and Jason got a letter from him too, but we don't talk about them with each other. Back home we were three friends, closer than family, that fought together, laughed together, loved together, and did almost everything else together. Here – here we're three sulky near-strangers that hardly speak with each other except for things related to the conference. It's as if without Zordon and the others – we aren't whole._

_That's what I left to come here. I left the best part of myself with Adam Park when I gave him my powers and walked away. I left my fighter's spirit, my do-gooder heart, and my joyful soul back in Angel Grove. I left the best of me with them so that the guilt I carried wouldn't taint them. I'm still the clown, still the joker, still love music and dance; but I've grown up being a Ranger. I look at the people around me laughing and saying that the reports of monster attacks aren't real and are some media trick to get viewers. My fists clench, my heart races, my teeth grind together in anger, and I have force myself from screaming out, "It is real! I lived it! I fought against those 'media tricks' for a year before the guilt of the lost lives we couldn't save had me running away like a coward!"_

_I can never tell them that and writing this rough draft for this damnable paper has made me realize that I'm not the hero I thought I was. I'm nothing more than a human with a heart and soul that's torn in two. _

_Where I want to be is back in the Command Center, calling for the powers of the Mastodon, and joining my family as we ALL fight to keep this world safe from the evils of the galaxy. Where I am is sitting in the library of a building in Geneva, Switzerland, pouring my heart out into a paper that no one, other than another Ranger, can ever read._

"_Keep your identities a secret, never escalate a battle unless forced to, and never use your Powers for personal gain." Those are the rules a Ranger lives by, daily._

_I could use my morpher and PROVE to the disbelievers here that Power Ranger and the monsters we fought are real, but then that would break two of the rules of a being a Ranger. I would have revealed my secret and used the power for personal gain, satisfaction mostly, but on top of that I would have done a much more heinous thing. I would place the life of a fellow ranger into mortal danger._

_Not Jason, Trini, Tommy, Kimberly, or Billy's life, but the life of the man I entrusted my powers to, Adam Park. We didn't exactly transfer the powers to our replacements when we left. It was more like our Powers were cloned and while Jason, Trini, and I can still morph – we have no need too – and know, deep inside, that Morphin would cause those holding our 'cloned' powers to unexpectedly lose their powers when we did. _

_I will NEVER take the chance that Adam will become a casualty of the unknown, to the world at large, war between Good and Evil that's being waged in Angel Grove. My life would be worthless if that happened because I was a selfish bastard and took powers, that keep him safe, just to prove to the uncaring masses here what they hear isn't mass hysteria nor media hype for ratings. It's real, it's happening as I write this, and to anyone that disbelieves – I have tale I can tell you about my hometown. A small place on the west coast of the United States of America called, Angel Grove._

_A place where a being from another world, Eltar, resides inside an interdimensional time warp and speaks to those he's chosen to protect our world as a giant floating head. A place where a small robot, by the name of Alpha 5, does for Zordon of Eltar what he physically can't. A place where an evil space witch named Rita Repulsa attacked over a year ago. A place where I became more than a teenager worried about school work, grades, dances, dates, and being popular. A place where my heart still yearns to be, but I know that my hometown and our world are in good hands. It's in the hands of the Power Rangers – my friends – always been and always will be._

_That's me, Zack Taylor, former Power Ranger and delegate to the Teen Peace Initiative in this beautiful city of Geneva. I left, but I still fight – in my own way – for world peace and maybe, someday, intergalactic peace where evil beings like Rita and Lord Zedd will no longer be a threat and people from other worlds can freely come to Earth and we can go there to visit them, peacefully._

_Now to write this freaking paper without putting all of this into it and finding a way to lie through my teeth about what I gave up to come to the Initiative. Oh well, one lie always leads to another and another and another – at least that's what my mom always told me. I've lied to people for over a year about being a Power Ranger so lying to keep the fact that I was a Power Ranger a secret shouldn't be too hard._

_Just gonna print this out and tuck it into a safe place. There's some stuff in here that I can use for this assignment, but this copy will NEVER see the light of day. Unless Tri or Jase wants to read it over and even then – I don't expect they'll ask._

Zack looked up from the paper at an unexpected noise and jumped when Trini called his name.

"Zack, what are you still doing in the attic? Aren't you done YET? Adam and Tanya are coming over for dinner tonight." Trini called up into the still open attic access.

"I'm coming right down, Tri, love." Zack answered, forcing a happy tone into his voice. "I guess I got sidetracked going through all this old junk up here." Zack poked his head through the opening and smiled down at his wife. "I was just going through the last box. I won't be long."

"You are a lousy liar, Zachary Taylor." Trini said with an understanding tone and a smiled gracing her lovely face. "You found something that distracted you up there, now give – what was it?"

Zack sighed and then smiled down at his wife. "Okay, okay. I found my old rough draft for that 'what we left behind' assignment during the conference. I got distracted reading it over and you know what, love?"

"You'd not change anything that happened, if you could." Trini said with a small loving smile. "I feel the same way, Zack. Sometimes it's just that it's time for a change. No matter how much we miss what was left behind, the future calls."

"You're right, love." Zack said as he put away the last of his belongings and quickly cleaned up. "Attic is cleaned out now. There's plenty of room to story mementos for the baby. I'll just put the Christmas decorations back up and take out the trash." Zack said coming down the ladder.

He was surprised when he reached the bottom and Trini wrapped him up in a loving hug and gave him a kiss. "I love you, Zack. That assignment was when I finally admitted it to myself. So I'm not sorry about going to the conference or finally getting you to see me as more than your lifelong friend."

Zack returned the hug and the kiss to his wife and smiled. "I'm not either, Tri. I'm no longer sorry about leaving or about finally realizing that you were my one. I love you and I can't wait to be a daddy to our little boy or girl. Although, I find out he or she becomes a Ranger, all bets are off because I might just whip out my morpher and join them."

"I just might do that too, Zack." Trini told him and without knowing it, both of them sent up a silent prayer to God and the Powers that their child would never have to fight, but if they did have to fight, they'd be ready. With two ex-Power Rangers as parents, this child would be ready if the power called.

Trini and Zack both chuckled happily, simultaneously, as they released each other from their hug and started to put away the mess from cleaning out their attic. They both looked forward to the arrival of their good friends for dinner and the eventual arrival of their first child.

XXXXXThe EndXXXXX

**A/N 2:**_I realize that this was longer than the one I did for Trini, but it's just the way if flowed for me. I hope to have captured Zack's essence in this third part of my 'five things' offering. Please leave a review and let me know what you think._

_May the Power Protect You!_

_Pern._


	4. The Mistake Kim's Point of View

**The Mistake: From Five Different Perspectives**

By: PernDragonrider

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Power Rangers that honor goes to BVE (Buena Vista Entertainment), Toei, Saban Enterprises, Disney, and Ranger Productions. No money being made on this work of fiction based on the television series Power Rangers._

**Author's Note:**_The idea for this tale came about when Panache issued a FIVE THINGS challenge. This is my offering for that challenge and I do hope that it meets the challenge. I DO realize this is choppy, but it's supposed to be choppy. This is a peek inside of Kim's old diary as she rediscovers it while cleaning out her apartment in preparation for a big move. The timeline for this part is approximately eight years after the events in __Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie__. Also, Kim's speech and current events will be in normal type, like this -_normal type_. While what's written in the diary she's reading will be in italics; like this – italic type. Enjoy and as always, please leave a review. Pern._

**The Mistake – Kimberly Hart's Point of View**

"I can't believe I'm going to be moving, again." Kimberly Hart, former Mighty Morphin Pink Power Ranger, thought as she was going through boxes that just been stuffed into the storage room of the apartment building where she'd lived for the past two years.

She continued opening up the boxes and sorting out the 'things' she'd collected over the years. She was mentally chiding herself for having not marked the boxes when she'd packed them up for her first move. That was when she'd moved from Angel Grove to Florida. Some of the boxes were still packed from that move and had never been touched. "I've got two months before the movers show up for everything." She thought as she was sorting through the more recent boxes first. Most of the more recent boxes were items she'd picked up since moving the first time. "This is absolutely the LAST move I make." Kim said to the empty room as she pulled another unmarked box over to start sorting the contents.

"Oh my," Kim breathed out softly when she'd opened the box up to look inside. Right on top was her old morpher, minus the coin. A gift Kat had brought to her, before her friend had gone back to Australia to teach ballet and dance with the Sydney Ballet Company full-time. Kim gently lifted the morpher out of the box and below it laid a collection of pink bound journals in all variations of her once signature color. "I'll sort this one out last." Kim thought as she reverently placed the morpher back into the box, closed it securely, and set it aside after marking the box with a label of 'sort later' with the black marker on the small folding table next to her.

It took her almost a month, but Kim managed to sort through everything. Her clothes, knickknacks, collectibles, make up, jewelry, shoes, and everything else she owned. Down in the chain link and locked storage area below her apartment, were hard plastic tubs replacing all the cardboard boxes that used to be housed there. The final cardboard box, marked three weeks earlier with 'sort later' was the last of her life to be packed away for, what she hoped, was her last move for many years to come. Resolutely she opened the box up, determined to get through this last of her memorabilia without delay. She took out the morpher, again, but this time she wrapped it carefully into bubble-wrap and tucked it into a small plastic container. She then placed the container into a larger green plastic storage tub that was sitting on the floor near her feet.

"I really should just toss these old diaries away." She thought as she lifted out the first one and opened it up. Looking at the dates, scribbled in her neat handwriting – in pink pen, of course – on the inside of the front cover, Kim sighed and smiled. "Third grade school year," Kim said aloud with a small chuckle. "The year I first met Zack, Trini, Billy, and Jason; I don't need this to remember that year, but maybe one day." Still chuckling, she placed the small bright pink book into the storage tub with the morpher already carefully packed away. She worked quickly through the diaries stored in the box, chuckling at the dates on each one as well as enjoying the memories that the dates on the inside covers evoked in her mind. It didn't take her long to come to the years of her high school time. She gathered the six books together and slipped them into the storage box quickly. "Better NOT get involved in reading these, at least for a few more years, Kim." She told herself sternly, her voice echoing around her small apartment slightly.

"Well, that takes care of…" Kim said with relief, as she picked up the cardboard box the diaries had been stored in, intending to cut it up and put it into the garbage when a last book fell out. This book wasn't the characteristic pink of the others; this one was covered in leather, dyed a dark mahogany, and carved into the leather was a representation of a bird; a crane. The life-like carving seemed to move across the cover as Kim picked it up from the floor. "I'd forgotten about this one." Kim thought as her fingers traced over the very true to life crane hand tooled and carved into the cover.

Kim gently sat the book on the coffee table, cut up the old cardboard storage box, took the pieces to the trash in the kitchen, got herself a large cup of hot coffee, and then went back into the living room. There she turned on some music and picked up the leather-bound book she'd left there. "I know what's in this." She thought, even as she was opening the journal, a Christmas gift from Tommy – just before she'd left Angel Grove to train with Coach Gunter Schmidt in Florida. Getting comfortable on the couch, Kim started reading the pages she'd written over ten years earlier.

_Dear Diary,_

_That is an absolutely DUMB way to start a journal entry, Kimberly Ann Hart, grow up you're NOT a child. Okay, I decided to put this gift from Tommy to use, finally. It's been almost two years since he gave me this beautiful journal for a Christmas gift. I loved it, but the rigors of training for the Pan-Global games don't leave a whole lot of room for writing in a journal or diary at all. Anyway, this journal with the representation of my Ninjetti-Ninja inner spirit, the Crane, will be where I'm going to record all of memories of my time as a Power Ranger. Yes kids – your mother WAS a Power Ranger. The first pink Power Ranger of Earth, who along with her good friends Jason Scott, Trini Kwan, Zack Taylor, and Billy Cranston were chosen by Zordon of Eltar to protect Angel Grove and the whole world from the evil space witch, Rita Repulsa._

Kim chuckled as she read the last line of the first paragraph. "Well I had some very high expectations when I wrote this." She said as she was still chuckling sadly. "Have to have a boyfriend, preferably a husband, before you can have kids to let read this Kimmy."

Kim sat the book on the couch next to her and picked up her coffee cup, sipping slowly as she struggled to control the tears that threatened to fall. "Why can't I find a guy that wants more than just a quick roll in the sack?" Kim asked the empty apartment and then smiled as the tabby cat she'd rescued from a rain-storm three years earlier padded into the room and jumped into her lap, butting her hand imperiously to be petted. "Tiger, you are something else." Kim told the cat as she did as demanded and she stroked the tiger-striped grey and white cat. Kim indulged Tiger for a few minutes as she sipped her coffee. She set her coffee onto the small end table by the sofa and picked her journal back up. "Might as well enjoy having the time to indulge in a trip down memory lane now, Hart." Kim told herself and Tiger with a sad chuckle. "Come four weeks from today you'll be buried under the strain of moving into your first house, opening up your own gymnastics studio, and all the minutia of daily life. Hopefully you can get enough students enrolled to make your overhead expense for the year and eat too."

Tiger meowed, as if he agreed with her, and the proceeded to curl up into a ball of purring fur – after he crawled back into her lap. Giving the purring cat a final stroke, Kim settled down to read the journal she'd written and to allow herself the indulgence of remembering happier more uncomplicated times in her life.

_We were just hanging out in the Youth Center, Juice Bar, and Gym in our home town of Angel Grove. Just like any other day, we were all together. By us I mean Jason, Billy, Trini, Zack, and me. We were just sitting around grousing to each other about the upcoming school year and our class schedules. Billy, well he wasn't grousing, but just listening to all of us and occasionally making a comment here or there. Anyway, we were just all hanging out as usual when an earthquake hit. Now I know you're all going to tell me that earthquakes happen all the time in California, but this one was different. It's hard to get down in writing, but Billy knew immediately that it wasn't a true earthquake. The rest of us found out just a little bit later that it wasn't a real earthquake. Ernie had just gotten everyone out and we were all holding onto each other as we made our way toward the door. Seconds later we weren't in the Youth Center anymore, but in this really weird place. By weird I mean futuristic – like something you'd see out of a sci-fi movie._

_There was this little robot and a huge floating head, in a tube, and all kinds of computer consoles and stuff like that around. We were all a little freaked out, except for Billy; he was more interested in the robot, which he called "a semi-autonomous automaton". Large words for a sentient, self-aware, robot. We looked around and then the floating head started talking to us. We took it all with a grain a salt and beat tracks, we left, but instead of sending us back the way he'd brought us there, we had to walk back. Let me tell you this place was a long way from the Youth Center and NONE of us was dressed for walking through the desert and back to town._

_Anyway, the floating, talking head, Zordon of Eltar was his name, gave us these morphers and told us that it would turn us into some kind of superhero called a Power Ranger. We, well Zack, Trini, and me, didn't believe him and we got the others to leave with us. Zack practically had to drag Jason out, but that's Jason for you - a man with a heart of gold and always wanting to help other. Someone that if he wasn't like my big brother would make a great husband, but to me that would be like being with someone in your family – we're that close._

_To keep the tale going, we got attacked, on our way back from the Command Center, where Zordon and his robot Alpha teleported us, by these really creepy, ugly, grey guys. They were tough and even Jason and Trini, both excellent martial artists, weren't able to stand up long against them. Billy suggested using the morphers that Zordon gave us – and we did. I was the pterodactyl, Trini was the saber-tooth tiger, Zack was the mastodon, Billy was the triceratops, and Jason was the Tyrannosaurus. Our colors were pink, yellow, black, blue, and red – respectively. At that moment, the five of us became a team of superheroes known as Power Rangers. Our actual title was The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but like we really cared – at that time._

_We didn't care what the name of our team was, at that time, because we were the only Power Rangers on Earth – we were the first ones to wield the power. Not that it was important to us at that time, either. We were more worried about keeping Rita Repulsa, an evil space witch, from taking over and enslaving our world, starting with our hometown of Angel Grove._

_We battled Rita for almost six months and then she created a Power Ranger of her own. Good you say, nope not good at all. This sixth ranger was turned evil by a spell of Rita's and he fought against us, trashed the Command Center, gave Alpha a virus, cut our connection to Zordon, took Jason prisoner and nearly killed him, and trashed our Zords too. That was NOT a good time in my life as a Power Ranger. To top of everything else I met this guy. Tommy Oliver was his name and he and his family had just moved to Angel Grove. He was a great martial artist, like Jason, and he was so cute. I fell for him the first time I saw him._

_Tommy was, is, a great guy; believe me. He's tall and nicely built. He had this air of a bad-boy about him with his long hair and the attitude he had, but inside he was a marshmallow, believe me he was. Unfortunately for me, for him, and for our team – Rita chose him to be her Green Ranger. There were times that we weren't sure we'd win, but we never stopped trying to defeat Rita and save our world. We finally got our connection to Zordon restored and discovered that Tommy was the Green Ranger. We also found out how to break Rita's spell over him. Jason destroyed the sword of darkness with his power sword and Tommy was free from Rita's control. It took him a little while to believe that we were serious about him becoming a permanent member of the team, but after he finally believed he joined and was there for every battle and for me too._

_Yes, Tommy and I started dating each other – not right away, but we eventually did start dating. It didn't take long for us to become a couple. Probably two or three dates and then we only saw each other and our friends after that. My mother wasn't too happy with him, but I did love him and I didn't care what she thought. I knew where my life was going, what I was going to be doing – at that time I knew everything - but what teenager doesn't think that – none that I know of._

_We continued fighting against the monsters Rita would send against us, just about everyday. We did our school work, participated in sports, and everything else teenagers in high school do in their spare times, except that sometimes we also fought to save our world._

_Time passed and I'm not sure how much, but Tommy's powers were being siphoned off by Rita. She was using an enspelled candle to take his powers away. Jason tried to get the candle and save Tommy's powers, but he was forced to make a choice between Tommy's power and our lives. He chose our lives, but his doing that resulted in Tommy losing his powers, but Rita didn't get them; Jason did. Tommy's last act, as a Power Ranger, was to choose one of us to give his powers too. He chose Jason and placed his coin into Jason's hand. Jason gained the shield, the dragon dagger, and the control of the powerful Dragon Zord, but he lost something at that time too. Jason lost a lot of his confidence about his abilities to lead us in battle and he lost someone that had come to be a brother. Tommy went away for a couple of weeks to make it easier for us and for him to deal with the loss of his powers._

_I missed him badly, but Jason missed him more. Before you all start speculating about why Jason would miss MY boyfriend more than I did – I'm going to tell you that from the day they met – the two of them were like two peas in a pod. Both of them were cut from the same mold and they had a lot in common, but enough differences that they were great friends. Strike that – Jason gained another brother and Tommy got something he'd always wanted too, a brother. They weren't blood related, but you would have never known that by just seeing them interact with each other. Jason was a brother to all of us, even those of us that HAD brothers already and I would say that Jase and Tommy were soul-brothers. They shared, almost, all the same interests and it was Jason that helped Tommy through the nightmares just after he joined us. It was Jason that made sure that none of us held what Tommy had done while enspelled by Rita against him._

_We continued, just the five of us, fighting against Rita's monsters and her evil plans for our world. There was a really bad time that happened not long after Tommy lost his powers to Rita's Green Candle. We were having a Parent's Day at the Youth Center. We knew Tommy was coming back to town soon, but not exactly when he was coming back. He'd been living with his uncle for a bit to make sure that Rita didn't try and take him as a prisoner to use against us. Zordon and Tommy had both decided that Tommy should come back home. So he came back, but not before Rita created a monster. A monster called, Dramole, which put all of the parents in Angel Grove under a spell and then kidnapped them to another of her pocket dimensions. Her ransom terms – our power coins._

_We gave in – we didn't have a choice – this was our parents and the parents of all of our friends too. Rita, being the evil being she was, didn't keep her word. She had our parents and our power coins now. However, she didn't have ALL of the power coins. Jason had turned over his red tyrannosaurus coin, but he always kept Tommy's green dragon coin in his pocket. He didn't turn that one over to Rita. I could go on and on about everything that happened at that time, but I don't want to use up my entire journal to tell this one story. There are more to come, so I'll make telling THIS one short. Zordon found Tommy, in the deserted Youth Center, and teleported him to the Command Center. He used his own energy; Zordon did, to re-energize Tommy's powers. Tommy came back to the team, as the Green Ranger, and he fought Goldar to bring them back to us. We got our power back, kicked monster butt, and then celebrated with our parents in the Youth Center. Thankfully Rita's monster had given off a gas that gave them a bit of amnesia and our secret was safe._

_Jason was really happy that Tommy was back in Angel Grove and back on the team. He was his old, confident, self again and we were all happy that we were six people again. Our happiness didn't last, but that's just one of the drawbacks of being a Power Ranger. Unfortunately, Tommy's power recharge wasn't a permanent thing. His powers were intermittent and Zordon decided that Tommy wouldn't be there for every battle. He couldn't morph all the time like we could so he'd fight against the Putty Patrollers, Putties we called them, and then teleport back to the Command Center when the monster showed up._

_A few months after Tommy came back, everything went haywire again. Rita's boss, Lord Zedd, showed up and took over the attacks on Earth. He put Rita back into a dumpster and took over her moon palace. Goldar became Zedd's right hand lackey and things got interesting too. Zedd created a green crystal, with his magic, and took all of Tommy's powers – again. Now we were back to five and Jason was just barely coping with the fact that Tommy left, again. Then Zedd gets the bright idea to take ALL of our powers the way Rita originally took away Tommy's; he created four candles – one for me, Trini, Zack, and Billy. Then he captured us as we were trying to find Tommy's Uncle's cabin, in the mountains, and imprisoned us in cells below the palace. The candles were lit; we were hurting badly as our powers were drawn out. Jason saved us, but he continually beat himself up over not being able to stop the first candle of Rita's. We also found out, through Billy, that Zordon was creating a new Ranger. All of us speculated as to whom this Ranger was going to be and WHY Zordon waited until now to do it, but it would be a few days before all of our questions were answered._

_We did find out the identity of the new White Ranger and I fainted. It was TOMMY! He was back in Angel Grove, back with us, and now the team leader. I wasn't expecting it to be him under that helmet, but it was and I fainted from the shock. Got teased by the others for it, but that's just family picking on each other and it was never anything mean or nasty. Jason was happy to have Tommy back, but there was something different about him at the same time. I think he had lost the confidence, or the heart, to continue being a Ranger. Billy got involved with a peace initiative and managed to get a group of the international delegate to stop in Angel Grove. While the delegates were here, they took applications from all over the country to choose United States delegates to the international peace initiative that would be taking place in Geneva, Switzerland just after the delegates left Angel Grove._

_All of us applied to be a delegate, thinking we'd never be chosen, but since we were some of the top students at school; it was expected of us and we did it. Little did we know that thinking like that would come back to haunt us in just a few days. During that time, Zedd decided, of course, to mess with the peace conference. He kidnapped the delegates and we, as Power Rangers, had to save them. Tommy, Billy, and I also entered into a local Team Ninja competition. We went up against a team from Stone Canyon and we lost, but also made three new friends, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha. They were there for the competition. Well Zedd decided to try and turn them evil because of their fighting skills. We saved them but something went wrong with Billy's armor and he had to reveal who he was to them. They made a solemn promise not to reveal our identities; to us and to Zordon too._

_A few days later we learned that Zack, Trini, and Jason were chosen to go to Switzerland as the delegates that would represent the United States at the Peace Initiative. That meant we were losing three friends and three good teammates. Sadness abounded and the quest to get the Sword of Power, so we could transfer their powers to new teammates, was bitter sweet. We gained a new Zord ally, Tor, but we were losing three people if our quest was successful. We were successful and got the Sword of Power before Zedd could get it; thankfully, but at the same time we were getting out rears handed to us. Zedd had created his own super-zord, Serpenterra. That was one tough fight, but we managed. At the end, Zordon chose the replacements for our departing friends. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha took Jason, Zack, and Trini's places on the team. It was a bad time for me because I was going to be missing three friends, and one friend that had been my companion and best friend since the third grade. Trini was going thousands of miles away from me and at the same time, my parents were getting divorced. That had been coming for some time, but it happening right then – it was really a bad time for me, personally._

_Rocky, Adam, and Aisha – after a few growing pains – fit right into our group, but it was never the same as it was when Jason, Zack, and Trini were there with us._

Kim stopped reading, took a drink of her now lukewarm coffee, and then set the journal aside. She grabbed some tissues from the box on the end table and dabbed at her eyes. "You know, Tiger, I never remembered it being that bad for any of us, but I guess I told my journal more than I let myself feel."

She scratched her cat on the head and smiled as he butted her hand for more. "You are the most affectionate cat I have ever met, Tiger." She continued petting him for a few more minutes until a huge yawn overtook her.

"Okay, it's bedtime, Tiger." She said picking him up and heading into her mostly bare bedroom. "Three more weeks and we'll both have a new place to explore." She put Tiger on the bed, changed into her pajamas, and crawled into bed, as she turned off the light on her nightstand. Kim was soon asleep to the familiar and comforting sound of Tiger purring as he snuggled into the extra pillow. Her dreams, not surprisingly, were of her friends and fellow teammates, as well as being dreams of what her life would be like when she moved back to Angel Grove to establish her own business.

End of Part 1 of Kim's P.O.V.

AN2: I had originally planned for this to be one chapter only, but when writing it out it became evident that it would take more than one chapter to finish Kim's point of view and to even get to where her mistake(s) were made. I hope you like this, preview or lead-in, chapter. Please leave a review and let me know what you think about it. Pern.


	5. The Mistake Kim's Point of View Part 2

**The Mistake: From Five Different Perspectives**

By: PernDragonrider

**Disclaimer: **_I do not own Power Rangers that honor goes to BVE (Buena Vista Entertainment), Toei, Saban Enterprises, Disney, and Ranger Productions. No money being made on this work of fiction based on the television series Power Rangers._

**Author's Note:**_The idea for this tale came about when Panache issued a FIVE THINGS challenge. This is my offering for that challenge and I do hope that it meets the challenge. I DO realize this is choppy, but it's supposed to be choppy. This is a peek inside one of Kim's old diaries as she rediscovers it while cleaning out her apartment in preparation for a big move. The timeline for this part is approximately eight years after the events in __Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie__. Also, Kim's speech and current events will be in normal type, like this -_normal type_. While what's written in the diary she's reading will be in italics; like this – italic type. Kim's thoughts will be in normal type, but underlined to denote that it was not spoken. Enjoy and as always, please leave a review. Pern._

**The Mistake – Kimberly Hart's Point of View – Part 2**

Kim got up the next morning, not remembering any of her dreams. She made her breakfast, did a little more cleaning – in preparation for her big move – and then sat down on the couch purposely ignoring the diary. "I do not want to read more of that on a gorgeous day like today." Kim thought as he contemplated what she could do. "I can head out to the beach, the park, or just go and do some window shopping. I don't have to stay inside and the weather is really gorgeous out." Kim's thoughts ran through her head as she turned on the television to catch the morning's newscast.

"Today's weather will change later this morning, before noon, to rain and thundershowers." The weatherman said as Kim's television turned on and the sound came before the picture even appeared.

"Damn." Kim said as she saw the skies outside already getting dark with the coming storm. "Okay, change in plans, Tiger." She said with a smile as the stripped tabby jumped up onto the sofa and climbed into Kim's lap with a loud purr of contentment as he settled down with 'his' person. "Instead of getting out and getting wet in the coming storm; we'll stay in and go back down memory lane. I really do not need to read the rest of those journal entries, but after discovering I wrote more than I thought; I should read the whole thing before storing it with the others. This way it won't get left behind." Kim stroked the tabby settled comfortably in her lap and picked up the leather-bound journal from the end table beside the couch. She turned on the crystal lamp that graced that same end table and opened the journal to the page she'd marked with the rose pink silk ribbon that was a part of the beautifully hand carved and tooled journal.

_Rocky, Adam, and Aisha – after a few growing pains – fit right into our group, but it was never the same as it was when Jason, Zack, and Trini were there with us. _

_We continued to battle against Lord Zedd's schemes to get rid of us so he could enslave our world. We were turned into children, Rocky was compelled to gamble all the time on a pachinko machine Ernie added to the Youth Center, Tommy had to face an evil clone of himself from when he was the Green Ranger and the rest of us were sent back to Colonial times. Tommy's evil clone, just like the original, turned to the side of good and remained back in time. We also made a new GOOD alien friend called Bookala – thanks to Adam – we were trapped in a story book, harassed again by Rita Repulsa – who'd come back and married Lord Zedd. I am shuddering to even THINK about the two of them producing a child. For the sake of ALL the forces of good – I can only hope that BOTH of them are sterile. YUCK, Kim, that is so gross and you shouldn't even go there._

Kim chuckled after reading about Zedd and Rita's wedding and her thoughts on that, but then she shuddered because Adam had told everyone, after it was over with, about facing that child as a renewed Black Ranger. "I think I'd have puked in my helmet, Tiger, if the Sentinel Knight had asked me to come back to the fight. I'd have gone, but it wouldn't have been pretty at all, kitty." Kim chuckled again and went back to reading.

_Soon after the 'wedding', the two of them or one of them – at that time it really didn't matter to us – trapped us into a child's storybook and again another time travel episode. This time it was just me and I wound up back in the old west. I guess, after seeing our great-great grandparents accessing the powers that we could no longer say we were the first Earthlings to be Power Rangers, but they only used the morphers that one time – so not sure if that counts or not._

_We had a short break from fighting off monsters, but during that time, Alpha started acting strangely. We found out that Alpha wasn't constructed by Zordon's people, but by the King of the planet Edenoi. The rest of the group went to Edenoi with Alpha, but I had a bad cold and had to stay behind. It was a good thing I did because Rita and Zedd decided to send down a monster – which I gave my cold to. The monster went back to the moon and didn't return until the others had returned. They went, via teleportation with Alpha, to Edenoi to help out the son of his creator, Prince Dex – known to his people as The Masked Rider. Prince Dex's ability to become the Masked Rider was a lot like how we morphed and I'm sure Billy knows all the technical details of that, but I never bothered to ask Dex or Billy anything about it. Prince Dex's people were like us, with the exception that some of them had the mental abilities like telepathy and stuff like that. We helped Dex out of the jam he was in but had to return to Earth before he regained his rightful place from the evil uncle that took over and wanted to enslave his world. I don't know if he ever succeeded in wresting the throne from him because we never heard from Dex again – after he came to Earth to stop his Uncle from taking over our world too._

_That was one of the handful of times that we teleported to another world, but it wouldn't be the last. When we came back from Edenoi, to enjoy our summer, we were confronted with a new evil – Ivan Ooze. We had to teleport to another world, this one a jungle paradise – of sorts if you like really roughing it – named Phaedos. There we met Master Warrior Dulcea; the last living Ninjetti Warrior and guardian of the Great Power. Ivan had destroyed our Command Center and shattered Zordon's warp-tube. Zordon was dying and we had to save him and get the Great Power to defend our world before Ooze could succeed were Rita and Zedd had failed. We did get the Great Power and used Ryan's Comet to blast Ivan to bits. That is why there is a Crane carved into the cover of this journal. The Ninjetti powers were based on the spirit animals that all of us associated with. I was the Crane, graceful and sure. Tommy was the Falcon, fierce and true fighter as well as the Lord of the Skies. Billy was the wolf, cunning and swift. Aisha was the bear, Rocky was the ape, and Adam was the frog. Our Ninjetti powers, once we obtained them, released the Great Power hidden inside of us, allowed us to defeat Ivan and keep our city and our world safe from evil. We had a short interlude where Rita and Zedd were recovering from whatever it was that Ivan Ooze had done to them too, but then the attacks against Angel Grove started again._

_Zordon sent us to find Ninjor. We barely succeeded and had a new lackey, foot soldier, or whatever you wanted to call them – we called them birdbrains. Somehow Rita and Zedd managed to get a hold of bird-men something like the Tengu Warriors that Ivan Ooze had. These were called Tenga, but they still stank and were fierce fighters. Call them Tengu, Tenga, or just feathered menaces – we needed stronger powers to fight them off. For some reason, that none of us can remember why – and we've tried. Our Ninjetti powers wouldn't work any more and we were back to using our old power coins; hence the need to find Ninjor and convince him/her to give us Ninja powers. We had the exact same animals as Dulcea's Ninjetti ceremony had given us, but all of us that went through this – at the time – get migraine headaches when we try to figure out that point in time. Personally, I think both events happened, but one of them – probably the deal with Ivan Ooze happened in an alternate dimension. Only Zordon and Alpha know for sure what happened during that time, but asking them to explain it to anyone but Billy, or another genius intellect, would probably just confuse us even more and really make our heads explode._

Kim chuckled softly and reached for her coffee. She grimaced when it was cold. "Yuck!" She said swallowing the small sip very reluctantly. "Okay, Tiger, time to move off of me so I can get some more coffee."

Kim picked up the sleeping cat from her lap and moved him to the cushion that was beside her. He opened one eye and glared at her, as if to say how dare you move me I was comfortable, before getting up and moving to the opposite end of the couch with a disdainful air that had Kim smiling as she watched him. Kim chuckled softly and gave him a pat on the head before heading into the kitchen and making herself another hot cup of coffee to replace the now very cold one.

Once she had another coffee and a light snack in hand, Kim returned to the couch and settled in again picking up the journal, after setting down her cup of coffee.

_During this whole time, I was also dealing with mother getting married again to a very nice man from France; he's a painter, but they wanted me to move there with them. I couldn't come right out and say I can't go with you because I'm the Pink Power Ranger and my team needs me to help protect our world; so I did the next best thing. I lied through my teeth and told my mom that I didn't want to leave all of my friend so close to graduating from high school with them. She bought it and arranged for me to stay with Aisha and her family while she and her new husband went to live in Paris, France. I missed my mother, but truthfully while I do like my step-father I'm not THAT close to him. He loves my mother, she's happy with him, and that's all that matters to me._

_Shortly after moving into Aisha's house, she and I gained a pet cat we called, PC. PC was solid white and so soft. She seemed to understand us when we spoke to her and both Aisha and I loved her very much. Later on we would come to find out that PC understood us because she was a person turned into a cat by an evil spell of Rita's. It didn't come out until about two months later, but PC was actually a very nice young woman from Australia. Her name was Katherine Hillard and I soon added her to my growing list of friends, after she freed herself from Rita's evil spell, anyway._

_A world famous gymnastics coach, Gunner Schmidt, came to Angel Grove and asked, specifically, for me to come and train with him for the Pan Global Games. I was over the moon, but torn at the same time. I loved Tommy, loved being a Ranger, but at the same time – competing in the Pan Global Games and the Olympics in gymnastics had been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. While training to try out for Coach Schmidt, I fell off the balance beam and was hurt, mostly because Kat – while under Rita's evil spell – had stolen my power coin. The loss of my coin affected my balance and nearly cost me my life, until Kat was able to break the spell on her and return it. It's obvious that I didn't die because I'm writing about this time in my life in this journal._

Kim set the book down and sipped on her coffee as she let herself reflect on that time in her life. "Yeah and soon after that I made the worst mistake I could ever make in my life." Kim said to the empty apartment around her. She sighed, sadly, and marked her place in the journal-diary she'd been reading. "I think I will definitely leave that part until tomorrow." She said as she stretched out and sipped her coffee, enjoying the soft patter of rain on the windows as the radio played softly in the background.

Kim sat there for nearly an hour, just listening to the sounds of the rain, and when the cordless phone next to her shrilled an incoming call; she jumped before answering the phone. "Hello."

"Hey, Kimberly," Jason said with a clear smile in his voice. "I just wanted to let you know that everything is set for your move. I just finished painting your house and everything should be set for when you get here with your furniture. I'm going to start on your gymnastics studio first thing in the morning. I should have it painted and ready for you to tell me where to set up all the equipment by the time you get here. I'm going to leave the sign and the outside for last because I really think you should just paint the sign pink and leave the rest brick, but it's your place and your call on that."

"Thank you, for everything, Jason." Kim said her sadness from reading the journal clear in her voice even though the smile on her face took some of it away.

"What's got you down in dumps, little sister?" Jason asked using a nickname for her that he'd given her in the fourth grade. "Are you regretting your decision to move away from down there and come home?"

"No, Jase." Kim answered with a smile. "No regrets over leaving; I just found my old diaries and I've been reading through them. Mostly the one I wrote, after everything went bad. I decided that I need to record my time in one book and I did that about three years ago, but I don't think my brain actually registered what I wrote at the time and going back through it just has me in the dumps, big brother."

"All right, Kim." Jason said with an understanding tone of voice. "You need me, anytime of the day or night; you call me, Kimberly. I can leave the rest of the painting to my crew and fly down there to help you out; even if it's just to offer moral support and a friendly face."

"You don't have to do that, Jase." Kim told him her serious tone overridden by the warmth his words evoked in her heart. "I'm fine. It's just making me a little sad to read over some of this. I'm just up to where Coach Schmidt first came to Angel Grove. I know there's going to be a whole lot more to deal with that's coming; but I'm taking it one day at the time. I'm already packed up and just waiting for the movers. It went quicker than I thought it would, but Tiger and I are doing just fine. I'm a little sad, but nothing I won't get over, Jason. You finish painting my gymnastics studio and I will make my way through this journal so that when I get back home; it's a completely fresh start. Something I've needed for a long time now."

"All right, Kim." Jason said with warmth and compassion in his tone. "I'll finish painting your studio and you can finish your trip down memory lane." Jason's voice turned soft. "If you need to bend an ear; call me, Kim. Especially if you need someone to talk to after you get to the bad part."

"I will call you right before I start reading that part, Jason." Kimberly promised seriously. "And once I've finished reading that through; I'll call you right afterwards."

"All right, Kimberly," Jason said with a smile in his voice once more. "I will be expecting your calls. You take care, stay safe, and don't get too maudlin over your past. You've got a fresh start right here back at home waiting for you. Bye Kim."

"I will, Jason. Bye." Kim said and she turned off the phone as she heard Jason hang up. She looked over when Tiger crawled into her lap and butted her hand to be petted. "You always know when I need comfort, Tiger." Kim said softly as she stroked Tiger's back and smiled softly. "So does Jason because his call couldn't have come at a better time." She picked Tiger up and headed for the bedroom. "Time for bed, Tiger," she said as she set him on the bed and got ready for bed quickly. She climbed in and once again fell asleep to her cat's soft purring on the adjacent pillow.

The next morning Kim didn't pick up the diary, journal, but instead she headed out right after her light breakfast and headed to the training facility she'd been working, and training, at since she'd come to Florida during her senior year of high school. She greeted her fellow trainers warmly and then stopped into the office to see Gunnar Schmidt.

"Morning, Gunner," Kim said as she stepped into the office and moved over to her desk. "I'm here to work, but I also want to pick your brains some more about running a top-notch training facility." She told him with a smile as she sat down and got ready to start the day.

"Good morning, Kimberly," Gunner Schmidt answered with a smile. "I know and I do wish you all the luck with what you're moving back to attempt; you know that. I'm going to miss you, but you can do this, Kimberly. I wouldn't have offered to train you or kept you here after you decided to stop competing if I didn't believe you would be a world class gymnast and then after that a world class trainer."

"Thank you, Gunner, for believing in me – even when I sometimes didn't believe in myself." Kim replied with a warm and friendly tone, but it was also under laid with seriousness.

"Kimberly, Kim, it has been my pleasure to train you, my dear." Gunner told her with a smile of friendship. "You were already an accomplished gymnast when you came here. All I did was hone what was already there and give you the moral and training support that you needed to succeed. My best advice, to make your own facility into something like I have here, is for you to trust your instincts, Kim. You have seen, even here, that there are those that love the sport, enjoy the competition lifestyle, and push themselves to be the best they can be. Then you have those that are in the sport because it is what their parents want for them, or they are pushed into it by their parents. Those girls, and boys, will never be – no matter how much training they receive – more than mediocre to decent competitors. The fire to succeed just isn't there for them unless, at some point in their training, they discover a love for the sport on their own. You can't force someone to love the sport, Kim; they have to come to that on their own. What you can do is challenge them, push them, and train them to the best of your ability. You have spent the last nine years here with me; the first four as my student, four more as a top of the line trainer, and this last year scouting out new prospects, learning the office, and the bookkeeping. I am proud of you, my dear. You have come a long way from your first day here and on your last day here I will be sad to see you go, but I know you are going forward to fulfill the destiny you have made for yourself."

Toward the end of Gunner's speech, Kim could detect the sadness in her trainer-boss-friend's voice. She got up from behind the desk and surprised him when she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek too. "You are an old softy, Gunner." She told him with a few tears of her own showing through. "I have learned so much from you and your trainers here. I hope that, once I open my own place, I am half the trainer you are and just because I am opening my own facility that doesn't mean I won't still send promising gymnasts your way too."

"I know and look forward to honing the skills you've instilled in them so they can be their best in the sport, Kimberly." Gunner told her with a smile and a nod. "You will be successful, Kim. Maybe not at first, like everyone that moves from competing to coaching, but you will be successful and I look forward to pitting my students against yours in competitions to come."

"I look forward to that to, Gunner," Kim told him truthfully, "Very much so because that will give me a chance to catch up with a good friend, one that I will miss when I move back to California."

"Just as I will miss my feisty friend, Kim," Gunner told her seriously and would have said more had the phone not rang right then. He answered the and motioned for Kim to go back to her desk and keep doing her research on all the necessities she'd need for her own training facility in California.

Kim spent her day on the phone with equipment suppliers and prospective students out in California. She decided to 'eat in' for lunch that day and joined the trainees in the facility's dining area. Getting a fresh grilled chicken salad, a fruit bowl, and bottle of vitamin enriched water as she joined some of her friends that were still working as trainers and coaches. Which role she still occasionally performed if someone was ill and couldn't work. Once done, she returned to the office and picked up with her duties for Gunner, some of which including watching videos sent in by various coaches of high school and college gymnastics teams around the country and determining if there were any prospective new clients Gunner might want to start wooing.

That task took up the bulk of her afternoon and she was surprised when one of Gunner's evening trainers poked his head in the door asking, "Gunner still here, Kim?"

Kim startled slightly but smiled at the man as she recognized the voice. "He's still here somewhere, Kyle," Kim told him with a sheepish smile. "His sweater is still on the back of his chair and his briefcase is still sitting by his desk."

"Thanks, Kim," Kyle smiled and went in search of his boss.

Kim checked the time and was surprised that it was after time for her to head home. She quickly cleaned her desk, got her purse, her keys, and her jacket. She closed the office door, signifying to everyone in the facility that there wasn't anyone in there and headed home. She picked up, at a local deli, her dinner and then finished her trip back to her condominium. Tiger greeted her with a loud purr and a few figure eights around her ankles as Kim made her way inside. "You are going to make me break my neck one day, Tiger." She mock scolded the cat; the smile evident in her voice and on her face. Kim quickly fixed Tiger's dinner and sat down to eat hers. Once finished she made a pot of tea, herbal, and took it into the living room. She sat down in her favorite spot on her couch and checked the weather for the next day, leaving the news channel on in the background, as she once again picked up her journal and open the book to where she'd left off the night before.

_I left the Rangers, as I said before, giving Kat my power coin and passing my Ninja Crane powers into her keeping. Making the decision to leave was one of the hardest I'd ever had to make in my seventeen years of life. I was leaving my friends, my family, and traveling almost three-thousand miles from everything I'd ever known. It was a scary time, but one that I was ready to face because competing in the Pan-Global Games and trying out for the Olympics was a life-long dream that I couldn't give up; even for Tommy, Zordon, or any of the others._

_So I left the team, leaving my powers in Kat's hands and traveled to Florida to begin my training under Coach Schmidt's tutelage. Gunner is a fair man, a great gymnast in his own right, and very demanding of his gymnasts – male and female alike. I'd been gone from Angel Grove for about six months when I wrote Tommy a letter, breaking up with him. That is one thing I will regret doing for the rest of my life – hurting him like that – but at the time, I felt it was unfair to him to tie him to our long-distance relationship any longer. I also did one other thing in that letter that I regret as well. I lied to him. I told him I'd found someone else that I'd fallen in love with. There was no one else and I will always regret lying to Tommy and hurting him by doing that. I shouldn't have taken the coward's way out, but I did. Something I hope to be able to fix once I'm back home and go see him in person; if he'll forgive me for doing that to him. I wouldn't blame him if he never wanted to talk to me again._

Kim marked the page and closed the book with tears in her eyes as she did. She grabbed some tissues from the box on the end table and let the tears fall, silently. "I'm so sorry, Tommy; I was a coward and afraid you'd talk me out of breaking us up. You had your world, the Rangers, and I had mine, gymnastics. I couldn't tie you to me when we were so far away." Kim didn't say more but shed her tears silently and wasn't surprised when Tiger jumped into her lap, butting his head into her chin, and meowing softly. It was as if he was trying to give her comfort and that made Kimberly smile sadly as she stroked his head and back with one hand. "I'll be all right, Tiger." She promised him with a clearly tear filled voice. "It's just me being maudlin over something that happened years ago." She gave her full attention to Tiger for a few minutes, using that time to get her emotions back under control and then once again picked up the journal continuing where she'd left off.

_I chickened out the only time in my life I have ever done that. If I could take back the hurt and pain I caused Tommy, who didn't deserve to be treated like that, I would, but I can't so now life goes on. About six months after I'd sent Tommy that 'dear john' letter, Jason shows up in Florida, surprising me. What was really a surprise was to find out that he'd nearly died and no one had told me anything. That hurt me, but after the way I treated his best friend – I can understand Jason's reluctance to ask any of the others to contact me. He told me about Billy's illness, his rapid aging, and Billy's decision to stay on Aquitar with Cestria. I have to say I was completely surprised by that, but I was happy for him for finding someone for himself. Jason stayed for about a month and just before he was going to be heading back home, we decided to rent a set of scuba tanks from a local dive shop and spend some time diving on some of the man-made reefs around the area._

_A decision Jason and I would both come to regret. A new evil was attacking the Earth and Angel Grove. Her name was Divatox and the first thing she did was order the crew of her submersible spaceship, think of a submarine that can travel not only under the water but through the vacuum of space too, to find two suitable sacrifices so that her betrothed, Maligore, could be released from his place of imprisonment on the lost island of Murithanis. They did take two captives, Bulk and Skull – Farkas Bulkmeyer and Eugene Skullovich – two classmates, bullies, that not many of us had anything, willingly, to do with during our school days. Unfortunately for Jason and me, Divatox decided that Bulk and Skull wouldn't do for sacrifices and took us captive too. We didn't know about her also tricking, our friends, the Rangers by making a false bargain to release us if Lerigo turned himself over to her and got her through the barrier that kept Murithanis hidden from everyone. What the Rangers, Zordon, or Alpha knew was that Divatox had also taken Lerigot's family captive as well. His wife and his young child were in her clutches and he distracted our friends, turning himself over to the evil space pirate, Divatox, to keep her from harming them. Of course, like any other evil being we'd ever faced as Power Rangers, Divatox didn't keep her part of the deal and sent out two dummies, dressed in our diving gear, and dumped them into the water as her foot soldiers, these fish-looking things she called Piranahtrons, beat a hasty retreat back to her ship, called a Subcraft, and she quickly set a course for the barrier and Murithanis. Jason, Bulk, Skull, and me were held in, what we guessed, was a bilge area of the ship and thankfully, for us, they hadn't taken Jason's diving watch with a built in depth gauge from him. He and I, Bulk and Skull while normally useless were even more useless as Divatox had done something to them for not being suitable choices for sacrifices for Maligore, devised a plan of escape. We managed to loosen a large hatch, with improvised tools broken off of the piping in our prison, and water started coming in and filling our 'cage' up. Jason kept an eye on the depth gauge in his watch and when it was safe for us to be able to make a break for freedom, without danger of coming down with the bends or running out of breath before we reached the surface and drowning, he finished removing the outer bulkhead we'd already loosened and we made our break for freedom. My tank top, that I had on under my wetsuit, got caught on the way out with Jason at my side – we'd already sent Bulk and Skull out our escape route – Jason, instead of swimming for freedom, came back and freed me. He gave me a push out the opening and started to follow when the emergency systems in Divatox's Subcraft kicked in and closed off his way out with an emergency seal. Divatox's Piranahtrons quickly recaptured Bulk, Skull, and me, but we weren't put back in the same place where Jason was still held. In fact, until we arrived on Murithanis, Jason had no idea that the three of us were ever recaptured._

_We didn't know that Tommy, Kat, Adam, Tanya, and the newest blue Ranger, Justin, were on their way to Murithanis via a 'ghost ship' and we didn't know that they had new powers, the Power of Turbo, either. Jason and I were dragged, fighting all the way, into the temple that covered the place of Maligore's prison and we were suspended over this pit of lava, in the very center of this temple, by our chained wrists. Both of us struggled to get free and our hearts lightened when the Turbo Power Rangers arrived to stop Divatox. Again, lady luck was not on our side at all as Jason and I were dropped into the lava pit – freeing Maligore from his eons long captivity and at the same time, not killing either of us, but infecting us with his evil. I do not remember anything but screaming as we were dropped into that lava pit. Whether we actually ever touched the lava, I can't remember. The next thing I remember after screaming in fear, as we fell and trying, desperately still, to break free of the chains and ropes that were sending us into that inferno, was looking at my friends and hating them. Hating them so much that all I wanted to do was to destroy them. A small part of me, one that was nothing more than an annoyance in my mind, was screaming that I didn't hate them, didn't want to hurt them, but the other part – the part that hated was in control – and the real me that was screaming and trying to stop my body couldn't do anything at all other than watch as I attacked the Rangers. I was attacking Justin, the youngest Ranger ever, first and then Kat tried talking me into stopping. Her voice touched triggered some recognition that she'd taken my place and my boyfriend. I attacked her, saying things that without the evil of Maligore filling me I'd have never said to her. Kat and I fought, with the evil allowing me to withstand her Turbo Powered blows without being broken into little bits immediately. While we fought, Tommy tried to break Maligore's evil grip on Jason by removing his helmet. A miscalculation that almost cost both of them their lives, but I'll get back to that shortly. Kat and I fought and as the battle raged all around, Lerigot freed his wife and child from the cage Divatox had held them in. He removed the devices that Divatox places on his wife and child's heads to keep them from using their innate mental powers to escape and together they used their mental powers and Lerigot's magic, the best word I can describe it with, to flush Maligore's evil from me. I was disorientated and, thankfully, Kat realized that something had happened to return me to being me. We, her and I, stopped fighting and went immediately over to help Tommy in his battle with Jason._

_Jason is a formidable warrior in his own right, was before he ever became Earth's first Red Ranger, and Tommy is Jason's equal when it comes to martial art combat skills. As I wrote earlier, Tommy had removed his helmet to try and stop Jason from attacking the others. A tactic that had helped Jason return Tommy's real memories when Tommy was brainwashed by Gadget into believing he was the ruler of the Machine Empire a few months before. However, in this case, it was a big miscalculation that nearly cost both them their lives. Jason, twisted by Maligore's evil, immediately focused all of his attacks on Tommy knocking Tommy's helmet out of his reach and keeping him from that helmet as they battled. By the time Lerigot, and family, had freed me Jason had Tommy, by the throat, and he was choking him as he pushed Tommy, on his back, over the edge of the lava pit. In a move I still don't know how he managed it; Tommy unbalanced Jason and tossed him over his head, sending Jason on a headfirst death dive back into the lava below. I screamed out Jason's name and rushed toward him, meaning to try and save Jason if I could. Before I could even touch Tommy to move him away and reach for Jason, Tommy had twisted from his back to his stomach – on hand still locked on Jason's right wrist. Jason's momentum almost pulled Tommy over the side with him, but I got there in time to stop Tommy's slide into the pit and help him pull Jason out of danger. Jason was still under Maligore's control, but as soon as he was back up and safely standing on the temple floor, once again set on killing Tommy, Lerigot turned his family's mental and magical powers to Jason and they flushed the evil from him as well. I had Tommy's helmet in my hand and I handed it to him with some inane comment that I really do not remember as I write this tale in this journal. He took it and put it back on, fully protected and all the Turbo Rangers regrouped and went after Divatox's forces, as Maligore – deprived of his possessed minions, Jase and me, rose up out of his lava pit prison and starting the process of destroying the temple that covered it. Large chunks of the upper levels started crashing down around everyone. The natives of Murithanis, that worshiped Maligore's evil, started throwing down their weapons and fleeing, as did Divatox's henchmen and Divatox too._

_Tommy and Jason shared a look and then Tommy called the Turbo Rangers to him as Jason and I got Lerigot, his wife, their child, Bulk, and Skull out of the temple and away from the coming battle. We watched as the Rangers battled against Maligore, turning their vehicles into the Turbo Megazord, and by doing that destroying Maligore completely. Once it was apparent that Maligore was not going to win the battle, Divatox, her henchmen, and foot soldiers fled Murithanis in her Subcraft, leaving those of us she'd dragged to the island as captives marooned. Instead of chasing after Divatox, Tommy turned the Turbo Megazord around and picked the seven of us former captives up. We returned to Angle Grove by air, flying back in the Megazord. _

_Once back in Angel Grove, Bulk and Skull were returned to normal; Lerigot and his family were returned to their home planet by Zordon and Alpha. I wanted to talk to Tommy, to apologize to him for what I'd done with that letter, but I didn't get a chance. He and Adam had to hurry to the auditorium for a benefit martial arts tournament against Stone Canyon. With Rocky's injured back, which we learned about on the way back to Angel Grove, Tommy and Adam were one person short and Tommy asked Jason if he would take Rocky's place. Jason accepted and they participated in the competition. They won, but it was a very close thing. By winning they received a trophy and a check for the Little Angel's Home, the combination orphanage and youth home in Angel Grove. They all celebrated and when Tommy hugged and kissed Kat; it hurt more than I had expected it to. I will always love Tommy, but until I know if he forgives me I won't know where I stand in his life. This was the last time that I had anything to do with any Power Rangers._

_This is the end of my recollections of my life as a Power Ranger. As in any child growing up and becoming an adult I made mistakes along the way. My mistakes, I have learned from and hopefully will never repeat, have been – mostly – small ones. There is one mistake that I truly and deeply do regret. That is writing that letter of lies to Tommy, addressing it to him via the Youth Center instead of his home address, and even mailing it in the first place. I will apologize to him, face to face, and hopefully become his friend once more. More than friends I am not going to hope for, but if it is fated to happen it will. _

_I have been the Pink Mighty Morphin Power Ranger whose powers were based upon the Pterodactyl, the Pink Ninjetti Crane Power Ranger, and the Pink Ninja Crane Power Ranger. I was proud to be chosen by Zordon of Eltar to battle Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd's evil attacks against my world, my home, and I hope that whoever is reading this journal is proud of me too. May the Power protect us all._

Kim sighed as she finished reading her journal. She hadn't called Jason as she promised and now she reached for the phone and dialed his number, not checking the clock for her long-time friend wouldn't care what time it was and she needed to hear his familiar voice. The phone rang, he answered, and they talked. Kim was feeling much better when they finally hung up the phone; good memories were discussed and the ghosts of the past laid to rest, for the time being. She looked at the closed book still in her lap and smiled softly as her fingers gently traced over the image carved into the mahogany colored leather cover of the journal. In her mind, her heart, and her soul a crane gave a cry of delight and took flight once more. Kim closed her eyes and soared with her animal spirit for a few moments before Tiger brought her back to earth with a head-butt to her chin and meowed demand for attention.

Kim stroked Tiger for a few moments before putting him off of her lap, getting up with the journal in hand, and carefully packing it into the plastic crate with the rest of her diaries. She gently touched the padded container that held her morpher and then closed and sealed the hard-plastic packing crate. She picked up the permanent marker and wrote, with a soft smile on her face, the word – memories – in large block letters on the top of the storage box. She replaced the cap on the marker, picked up the storage box, and took it into her bedroom. This box would travel with her, in the backseat of her car, as she returned to the city she'd grown up in – Angel Grove, California.

Kim went back to her living room, turning off the television and the lamp by the couch. She went back down the hall to her bedroom, got ready for bed, and climbed in getting comfortable. "It is said that you can never go home again." Kimberly thought as she lay there waiting for sleep to claim her. "In a way that is true. While I am moving back home, to Angel Grove, it will not be the same place I left. I am not the same person that left there either. What happens from here on out I look forward to and I will face the new day with a smile."

Beep, Beep, Beep – Beep, Beep, Beep

**A/N2:** I have probably skipped over or condensed everyone's favorite Kimberly episodes in this tale, but it would take more than two chapters for her to detail every single thing that she'd experienced during her time as a Power Ranger. I do hope that you've enjoyed this tale and that you'll leave me a review to let me know what you think. Also, this is un-beta-read and all mistakes are mine and mine alone.

May the Power Protect you! Pern.


End file.
